Patent Application
20250028271
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an antibacterial region on a recording material.
Printed materials (prescriptions and medical questionnaires) used in medical institutions, etc., are circulated among a plurality of people. Infection within a medical institution spreads as a result of a process being repeated in which infectious bacteria adhere to a printed material from the fingers of a given person's hand, and the bacteria then adhere to the fingers of another person's hand from the printed material. In view of this, an antibacterial agent having an antibacterial effect is included in a raw material (fibers, filler) for a printed material, or applied onto a printed material. According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6234345, a technique is proposed of applying an antibacterial agent to the entire area of one side of a printed material.
The technique of including an antibacterial agent in the entirety of a raw material for a printed material results in the antibacterial agent also being present in portions of the printed material that will not be touched by fingers of the hand. Thus, the antibacterial effect (antibacterial efficiency) obtained per amount of antibacterial agent used is low, leading to an increase in cost. In the case of the technique of applying an antibacterial agent to the entire area of one side of a printed material, one side of the printed material has an antibacterial effect but the other does not. A printed material is usually held by hand or between fingers. Thus, infection would spread via the other side, which does not have an antibacterial effect. Furthermore, the technique has resulted in an increase in cost because an antibacterial treatment is applied to the entire area of one side even though only a partial region of the printed material will be touched by fingers of the hand.
The present disclosure provides an image forming apparatus comprising a holding container that holds a toner containing an antibacterial agent, and an image forming unit that forms an antibacterial region by applying the toner supplied from the holding container to a recording material by performing an image forming process. The antibacterial region is formed on a partial region that is a partial region of a first surface of the recording material and that is likely to be touched by a user's finger.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Note, the following embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention. Multiple features are described in the embodiments, but limitation is not made to an invention that requires all such features, and multiple such features may be combined as appropriate. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same or similar configurations, and redundant description thereof is omitted.
A developing container 5 accommodates an antibacterial toner 4 prepared by mixing an antibacterial agent into a toner. A developer carrying member 6 forms a toner image by developing the electrostatic latent image using the antibacterial toner 4.
The toner image is conveyed to a transfer unit 19 by the rotation of the photosensitive drum 1. The transfer unit 19 is formed by the photosensitive drum 1 and a transfer roller 7. A sheet cassette 11 is a storage compartment that stores many sheets of recording materials 8. A feed roller 12 feeds one sheet of recording material 8 from the sheet cassette 11 onto a conveyance path 10a. Conveyance rollers 13 convey the recording material 8 along the conveyance path 10a to the transfer unit 19.
The transfer unit 19 transfers the toner image from the photosensitive drum 1 onto the recording material 8. The antibacterial toner 4 remaining on the photosensitive drum 1 is recovered by a cleaning container 9. The photosensitive drum 1, the charging roller 2, the developing container 5, and the cleaning container 9 may be provided so as to be integrated and called a process cartridge.
The recording material 8 is conveyed from the transfer unit 19 to a fixing device 17. The fixing device 17 fixes the toner image onto the recording material 8 by applying heat and pressure to the toner image and the recording material 8. Discharge rollers 14 discharge the recording material 8 to the outside of the image forming apparatus 100. When double-sided printing is performed, the rotation direction of the discharge rollers 14 switches from the forward direction to the reverse direction when the rear end of the recording material 8 having an image formed on a first surface thereof is sensed by a sheet sensor 16. Thus, the recording material 8 is fed into a conveyance path 10b from the conveyance path 10a (switchback conveyance). Conveyance rollers 15 provided on the conveyance path 10b pass the recording material 8 to the conveyance rollers 13. The conveyance rollers 13 feed the recording material 8 to the transfer unit 19 once again. The transfer unit 19 transfers a toner image from the photosensitive drum 1 onto a second surface of the recording material 8. Subsequently, the recording material 8 is conveyed to the fixing device 17. The fixing device 17 fixes the toner image onto the second surface of the recording material 8. The discharge rollers 14 discharge the recording material 8 having undergone double-sided printing to the outside of the image forming apparatus 100.
Note that the antibacterial toner 4 is fixed onto the recording material 8 while heat and pressure are applied to the antibacterial toner 4 by the fixing device 17. Thus, a printed material formed from the recording material 8 and a toner image is subjected to an antibacterial treatment.
As antibacterial agents, both inorganic antibacterial agents and organic antibacterial agents are applicable to the antibacterial toner 4. Note that inorganic antibacterial agents are superior to organic antibacterial agents in terms of heat resistance and stability.
Examples of inorganic antibacterial agents include metals, metal-compound-based antibacterial agents, oxide-photocatalyst-based antibacterial agents, etc. Examples of the metals include silver, copper, zinc, etc. Pure metals and/or antibacterial metal ions may be adopted. These metals may be carried by other inorganic substances. For example, examples of carriers for antibacterial metals include alumina, zeolite, silica gel, phosphate-based compounds, calcium carbonate, calcium silicate, silicate glass, etc.
For example, examples of oxide-photocatalyst-based antibacterial agents include anatase-type titanium oxides, etc. Charge separation occurs when an oxide-based photocatalyst is irradiated with light having a wavelength of 400 nm or shorter, for example, and electrons and holes are thus generated. The holes react with water vapor and oxygen in the air and generate reactive oxygen species such as OH radicals. Microorganisms can be eliminated by the powerful oxidation capability thereof.
Among the above-described antibacterial agents, silver-based antibacterial agents particularly have a broad antibacterial spectrum and high antibacterial activity. Two or more types of antibacterial agents may be used together, as necessary, for the antibacterial toner 4.
The toner used in the present embodiment includes an external additive and toner particles containing a binder resin such as a styrene-based copolymer resin, a polyester resin, or the like. Furthermore, a known releasing agent (wax) may be used in the toner particles in order to impart releasability to the toner, and a known charge control agent may be further used. The toner used in the present embodiment may be a magnetic single-component toner, a non-magnetic single-component toner, or a non-magnetic two-component toner. Furthermore, the method for producing the toner is not particularly limited, and the pulverization method, the suspension polymerization method, the emulsion aggregation method, etc., could be adopted.
The image forming apparatus 100 functions as a document-image forming unit that forms a document image, and also functions as an antibacterial-pattern forming unit that forms an antibacterial pattern image that exhibits an antibacterial effect. Thus, in a case in which blank paper is used as the recording material 8, both the formation of a document image and the formation of an antibacterial region are executed. In a case in which preprinted paper is used as the recording material 8, the image forming apparatus 100 can form an antibacterial region on the preprinted paper.
An antibacterial pattern is an image pattern that is printed using the antibacterial toner 4 so as to have an antibacterial property. For example, examples of the antibacterial pattern include a solid image, a halftone image, and deliberately induced fogging. Fogging is a toner image that adheres to the photosensitive drum 1 irrespective of the image signal and ends up being transferred to the recording material 8 by temporarily changing the relationship between a charging voltage applied to the charging roller 2 and a developing voltage applied to the developer carrying member 6. Thus, fogging is generated even if the laser scanner 3 does not emit laser light.
From the viewpoint of maintaining document-image quality and the viewpoint of reducing antibacterial cost, a solid image would seldom be used. The antibacterial pattern is formed so that an antibacterial property of a sufficient level is ensured and so as to have a density such that the antibacterial pattern is difficult to see with human eyes. Accordingly, a low-density halftone image or fogging controlled to have low density would be used in most cases as the antibacterial pattern.
In the present embodiment, a surface region which is included in the surface region of a printed document and in which an antibacterial pattern having an antibacterial effect is formed is called an antibacterial region. The region to which antibacterial printing is applied does not need to be the entire area of the recording material 8, and may be limited to a region (easy-to-touch region) that will be touched by many people. Thus, the antibacterial printing need not be applied to a region (difficult-to-touch region) that will seldom be touched by people. That is, the antibacterial printing is applied only to a partial region of the first surface or the second surface of the recording material 8. Thus, the suppression of infection and a reduction in cost can be balanced. Conventionally, no specific invention has been proposed for balancing the prevention of infection and low cost under such a concept. Specifically, if antibacterial printing were to be applied to the entire area of both sides of the recording material 8, the cost will increase because a large amount of the antibacterial toner 4 would be used. In order to further enhance the antibacterial effect, an antibacterial region may be disposed on an appropriate surface region of the first surface or the second surface of the recording material 8.
In view of this, in the present embodiment, specific antibacterial regions (configurations I to IV) for balancing the antibacterial effect and a reduction in cost are proposed.
By applying an antibacterial region to part of the recording material 8 as described above, the amount of antibacterial toner 4 used is reduced and lower cost is achieved compared to a method in which the entire area is antibacterially treated. Thus, a reduction in cost and a strong antibacterial effect are achieved. By disposing an antibacterial region only on a partial region that is likely to be touched by people, antibacterial performance would be exhibited even more efficiently.
In
In
In
In
In such a manner, in each of the above examples, the antibacterial region 200 is secured in a surface region that is likely to be touched by hand and that needs to be antibacterially treated. Thus, antibacterial performance and a reduction in cost can be balanced. Furthermore, the above-described antibacterial regions 200 are mere examples. The present embodiment is applicable to any product in which a surface region in which the necessity of antibacterial treatment is high and a surface region in which the necessity of antibacterial treatment is low are distinct. In other words, it is sufficient that the antibacterial region 200 be disposed in a surface region in which the necessity of antibacterial treatment is high, and the non-antibacterial region 201 be disposed in other surface regions in which the necessity of antibacterial treatment is low.
The antibacterially treated area can be reduced by disposing the antibacterial region 200 on edge-portion regions of the recording material 8. Furthermore, the effective antibacterial performance would be enhanced because edge-portion regions of the recording material 8 are likely to be touched by human hand.
The reason why it has become necessary to antibacterially treat the edge portion of the recording material 8 will be described. In recent years, shielding plates are installed at government-office service counters and corporate conference rooms as a measure for preventing the spread of COVID-19. In the bottom part of a shielding plate, an approximately 10 cm-high space through which the recording material 8 can be handed over is provided. Furthermore, social distance needs to be secured. Under such circumstances, there has been an increase in cases in which the recording material 8 is received and handed over by stretching hands. Furthermore, when the recording material 8 is to be passed between two people who are separated from one another by a distance allowing the two to barely reach one another, the edge portion of the recording material 8, rather than the center portion thereof, would be held. Accordingly, the edge portion of the recording material 8 is touched more frequently by hand than the center portion. In view of this, it would be sufficient to apply the antibacterial treatment only to an edge-portion region (area extending to a distance of several centimeters from one or more edges of the recording material 8). Furthermore, the necessity would be low of antibacterially treating the center region, which is seldom touched. Thus, the antibacterial effect and a reduction in cost would be balanced.
The recording material 8 illustrated in
In
While two edges of the clear file 300 are sealed here, the number of sealed edges may be one or three. Furthermore, some of the four edges of the clear file 300 may be locally sealed to an extent such that the sides do not interfere with the insertion and removal of the recording material 8. In this case as well, the antibacterial region 200 is disposed on an edge-portion region of the recording material 8 that corresponds to the open portion of the four edges of the clear file 300. In such a manner, only an edge-portion region that will be touched by hand upon filing and removing the recording material 8 is antibacterially treated. Furthermore, the non-antibacterial region 201 is disposed on a surface region that is seldom touched. The antibacterial effect and a reduction in cost may be balanced in such a manner.
By providing the antibacterial region 200 only on an edge-portion region that will be frequently touched by hand in such a manner, antibacterial performance and cost can be efficiently balanced. Furthermore, the above-described antibacterial regions 200 are mere examples. The present embodiment is applicable to any product in which an edge-portion region in which the necessity of antibacterial treatment is high and other regions in which the necessity of antibacterial treatment is low are distinct. In other words, it is sufficient that the antibacterial region 200 be disposed in an edge-portion region in which the necessity of antibacterial treatment is high, and the non-antibacterial region 201 be disposed in other surface regions in which the necessity of antibacterial treatment is low.
For example, there are cases in which no image is printed on the back surface P2 of the recording material 8 while an image is printed on the front surface P1, and a user views the recording material 8 while holding the recording material 8 by hand. In this case, the antibacterial effect and a reduction in cost can be balanced by providing the antibacterial region 200 on both the front surface P1 and the back surface P2 of the recording material 8. In such a case, conventionally, the entire area of the front surface P1 and the entire area of the back surface P2 were subjected to the antibacterial treatment. In configuration III, the amount of antibacterial toner 4 used is reduced while the antibacterial effect is maintained because the antibacterial treatment is applied focusing on surface regions that will be touched by hand. That is, the antibacterial effect and a reduction in cost can be balanced.
As illustrated in
Incidentally, in order to realize such an antibacterial state using the image forming apparatus 100, the back surface P2 is printed after the front surface P1 has been printed in the image forming process. In doing so, the recording material 8 is fed into the transfer unit 19 once again through the conveyance paths 10 by switchback conveyance. As a result of the conveyance direction of the recording material 8 being reversed by switchback conveyance, the surface facing the photosensitive drum 1 switches from the front surface P1 to the back surface P2. Furthermore, the short edge that enters the photosensitive drum 1 earlier among the two short edges of the recording material 8 also switches. Thus, with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording material 8, the position of the antibacterial region 200 on the back surface P2 is vertically symmetric to the position of the antibacterial region 200 on the front surface P1. Thus, the antibacterial region 200 on the front surface P1 and the antibacterial region 200 on the back surface P2 are provided on the side of the same short edge of the recording material 8.
The specific dimensions to be described in relation to
In
The areas and the widths w of the bands may be calculated with reference to the dimensions of the palm of an ordinary adult user working in the medical field or at a service counter at a government office or the like. As one example, an assumption is made that the recording material 8 is of the A4 size to the A3 size. As assumption is made that the thumb will hold the front surface P1, and the other four fingers will support the back surface P2. From the dimensions of the hand and the state in which the recording material 8 will be held, the width w1 and the width w2 of the antibacterial regions 200 are calculated as approximately 60 mm and approximately 100 mm, respectively. The width w1 is substantially close to the distance from the base of the thumb or the index finger to the tip of the thumb. The width w2 is close to the distance from the base of the thumb or the index finger to the tip of a finger other than the thumb.
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The antibacterial regions 200 illustrated in
There are cases in which the recording material 8 is folded in two and handed over from one user to another. For example, if the printed side is on the front surface P1, the recording material 8 would be folded in two such that the back surface P2 is on the outer side and the front surface P1 is on the inner side. That is, because an antibacterial region 200 is disposed over the entire area of the back surface P2, which would be touched by hand when the recording material 8 is passed between users, users can safely handle the recording material 8 without worrying about the location of the recording material 8 that the users touch. Accordingly, the versatility in handling the recording material 8 would increase, and low cost would also be achieved.
In such a manner, in configuration III, an antibacterial region 200 is disposed on a region that is likely to be touched by hand, and a non-antibacterial region 201 is disposed in a region that is unlikely to be touched by hand. Thus, the amount of antibacterial toner used is reduced while maintaining the antibacterial effect. That is, the antibacterial effect and a reduction in cost can be balanced.
In configuration IV, an assumption is made of a situation in which the recording material 8 is held between fingers rather than being held by hand. That is, an assumption is made that a user would view information printed on both sides of the recording material 8 while pinching the recording material 8 by hand. If the recording material 8 is of small weight or small size, a user would usually hold the recording material 8 between fingers. In such a case, the areas of the antibacterial regions 200 can be reduced while disposing the antibacterial regions 200 on both sides of the recording material 8. Thus, the antibacterial effect and a reduction in cost can be balanced.
The difference between configuration III and configuration IV is that the area of the antibacterial region 200 on the back surface P2 is equal to the area of the antibacterial region 200 on the front surface P1. The area of the recording material 8 touched by fingers differs between a case in which the recording material 8 is heavy and thus held using the entire hand and a case in which the recording material 8 is light and thus can be held between at least two fingers. That is, the area touched by fingers is large in the former case, and is small in the latter case. The widths w of the antibacterial regions 200 are designed with this in consideration.
It has been calculated that the width w1 and the width w2 of the antibacterial regions 200 are to be approximately 80 mm in a case in which the bottom edge side of the recording material 8 will be held between fingers as illustrated in
It has been calculated that the width w1 and the width w2 of the antibacterial regions 200 are to be approximately 80 mm also in a case in which a side (right side) of the recording material 8 will be held between fingers as illustrated in
It has been calculated that the width w1 and the width w2 of the antibacterial regions 200 are to be approximately 80 mm also in a case in which one of the four corners of the recording material 8 will be held between fingers as illustrated in
As illustrated in
In configuration IV, an antibacterial region 200 and a non-antibacterial region 201 are disposed on both the front surface P1 and the back surface P2 of the recording material 8. Thus, a reduction in cost is achieved compared to a case in which the antibacterial treatment is applied to the entire area of both sides. The position of the antibacterial region 200 on the front surface P1 and the position of the antibacterial region 200 on the back surface P2 match. Thus, a user can predict the position of the antibacterial region 200 on the back surface P2 from the antibacterial region 200 on the front surface P1 without looking at the back surface P2. That is, a user would be able to easily recognize which location(s) of the recording material 8 are to be held between fingers. Due to this, the versatility of the recording material 8 improves, and a reduction in cost is also achieved.
As described above, by adopting one of configurations I to IV, the antibacterial treatment is applied to a surface region that is likely to be touched by hand, and the antibacterial treatment is not applied to a surface region that is unlikely to be touched by hand. Thus, a reduction in cost is achieved while maintaining the antibacterial effect.
As illustrated in
The above-described advantages can also be obtained in a case in which the recording material 8 is preprinted paper. That is, configurations I to IV are also applicable to preprinted paper already having an image printed thereon. In such a manner, a balance between antibacterial property and cost can also be achieved in regard to preprinted paper. Furthermore, ease of handling is also achieved in regard to printed materials formed from preprinted paper.
An input circuit 702 inputs sensing results of the sheet sensor 16 to the CPU 700. A drive circuit 703 drives motors M1, M6, and M12 to M15 based on instructions from the CPU 700. The motor M1 drives the photosensitive drum 1, etc. The motor M6 drives the fixing device 17. The motor M12 drives the feed roller 12. The motor M13 drives the conveyance rollers 13. The motor M14 drives the discharge rollers 14. The motor M15 drives the conveyance rollers 15.
An operation panel 704 includes a display device that displays information to a user, and an input device to which the user inputs instructions. The operation panel 704 may be realized by a touch-panel display.
A printed-material-information acquisition unit 711 acquires, from the memory 701 or the operation panel 704, printed material information relating to a recording material 8 after an image is printed thereon by the image forming apparatus 100 (printed material). For example, the printed material information includes the sheet size (e.g., A4, A3) of the recording material 8, the print direction (vertical, horizontal), the printed side (one side, both sides), the purpose of use of the printed material (e.g., staple binding, booklet, bookbinding, centerfold), etc.
A pattern determination unit 712 determines an antibacterial pattern based on the printed material information. As described above, the antibacterial pattern indicates the shape and position of one or more antibacterial regions in relation to the recording material 8. A database in which printed material information and antibacterial patterns are associated with one another may be stored in the memory 701. The pattern determination unit 712 may determine an antibacterial pattern corresponding to the printed material information by referring to the database.
A user-information acquisition unit 713 acquires user information from the memory 701 or the operation panel 704. The user information is information relating to the lengths of a user's fingers, such as the length of the thumb and the length of the index finger. For example, the user information includes a user's age, a user's gender, etc. The user information may be the lengths of a user's fingers per se. In this case, a finger-length estimation unit 714 would be unnecessary. However, the finger-length estimation unit 714 is incorporated if the lengths of other fingers are to be estimated from the length of one finger of a user (e.g., length of the thumb).
The finger-length estimation unit 714 estimates the lengths of a user's fingers based on the user information. A database in which user information and lengths of user's fingers are associated with one another may be stored in the memory 701. The finger-length estimation unit 714 may acquire the lengths of a user's fingers corresponding to the user information by referring to this database.
A size determination unit 715 determines the size of the antibacterial pattern (pattern size) based on finger length. As described above, the size determination unit 715 determines the widths w1 and w2 of antibacterial regions 200. A database in which antibacterial patterns and widths w1 and w2 are associated with one another may be stored in the memory 701. The size determination unit 715 may acquire widths w1 and w2 corresponding to the antibacterial pattern by referring to this database.
An antibacterial-image generation unit 716 generates antibacterial image data based on the sheet size, the antibacterial pattern, and the pattern size. An image combination unit 717 generates combined image data by combining the antibacterial image data with image data prepared by a user. Note that, if the recording material 8 is preprinted paper, the combined image data may be the antibacterial image data per se. As a matter of course, image data prepared by the user may also be printed on preprinted paper.
An image-signal generation unit 718 generates an image signal by applying gradation correction, dithering, etc., to the combined image data. The image signal is supplied to the laser scanner 3.
A power-supply circuit 705 is a power-supply circuit that is controlled by the CPU 700 and generates the charging voltage, the developing voltage, and a transfer voltage. The charging voltage is applied to the charging roller 2. The developing voltage is applied to the developer carrying member 6. The transfer voltage is applied to the transfer roller 7. Normally, the CPU 700 sets the charging voltage and the developing voltage such that fogging is not generated on the recording material 8. However, the CPU 700 may generate one or more antibacterial regions 200 by setting the charging voltage and the developing voltage so that fogging is deliberately generated on the recording material 8. Antibacterial patterns that can be formed in this case are the antibacterial patterns illustrated in
In step S801, the CPU 700 acquires printed material information. As described above, the printed-material-information acquisition unit 711 acquires the printed material information from the operation panel 704 or the memory 701.
In step S802, the CPU 700 determines an antibacterial pattern based on the printed material information. The pattern determination unit 712 determines the position (e.g., bottom-edge side, right-edge side, top-edge side) and shape (e.g., rectangle, semicircle, triangle, frame shape) of one or more antibacterial regions 200 in relation to a recording material 8 based on the printed material information.
In step S803, the CPU 700 acquires user information. The user-information acquisition unit 713 acquires the user information from the memory 701 or the operation panel 704.
In step S804, the CPU 700 estimates finger length based on the user information. The finger-length estimation unit 714 acquires finger length corresponding to the user information by referring to a database stored in the memory 701. In place of a database, a mathematical formula or a program module that outputs finger length when user information is input may be adopted.
In step S805, the CPU 700 determines a pattern size based on the finger length. The size determination unit 715 acquires a pattern size of the antibacterial pattern that corresponds to the finger length by referring to a database stored in the memory 701. In place of a database, a mathematical formula or a program module that outputs a pattern size (e.g., w1, w2) when finger length is input may be adopted.
In step S806, the CPU 700 controls the image forming apparatus 100 to print an antibacterial pattern on the recording material 8 together with a user image. The user image is an image prepared by a user. The user image need not be printed in a case such as that in which the recording material 8 is preprinted paper.
<Technical Concepts Derivable from Embodiments>
As illustrated in
The toner may be a toner (antibacterial toner 4) that does not contain any colorant. Thus, the antibacterial toner 4 may be called a clear toner. Note that the toner may be replaced with an ink or the like containing the antibacterial agent. In other words, embodiment 1 is also applicable to an image forming apparatus of the inkjet recording method.
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The antibacterial region formed on the partial region of the first surface of the recording material 8 and the antibacterial region formed on the partial region of the second surface of the recording material 8 may be edge-portion regions touching at least one same edge among four edges of the recording material 8. This is illustrated for example in
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The image forming unit may be configured to form images on a plurality of sheets that form a booklet (recording material 8). The partial region of the first surface of the recording material (booklet) may be a partial region of a front cover of the booklet. As illustrated in
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For example, the CPU 700 may determine a size of the antibacterial region 200 based on user information (e.g., age, gender) relating to a user's physical size. Thus, for each user, the antibacterial region 200 of appropriate size would be provided.
The CPU 700 may estimate finger length based on the user information, and determine the size of the antibacterial region 200 based on the finger length. The finger length may at least include a length of a thumb. The finger length may include at least a length of a thumb, and a length of one finger other than a thumb (e.g., index finger, middle finger, ring finger, pinky).
The recording material 8 includes an easy-to-touch region that is likely to be touched by human hand, and a difficult-to-touch region that is unlikely to be touched by human hand. The antibacterial region 200 is disposed on the easy-to-touch region, and need not be disposed on the difficult-to-touch region.
The antibacterial region 200 may include a rectangular region that is parallel to one of four edges of the recording material 8. A short-edge-direction length of the rectangular region may be no less than 60 mm and no more than 100 mm. The short-edge-direction length of the rectangular region may be no less than 80 mm and no more than 100 mm.
The laser scanner 3, the developer carrying member 6, etc., may form the antibacterial region 200 to have a density such that the antibacterial region 200 is difficult to see with human eyes. Thus, the antibacterial region 200 would not interfere with a user-prepared image.
The charging roller 2 is an example of a charging member to which a charging voltage is applied, the charging member charging the photosensitive drum 1. The laser scanner 3 is an example of an exposure light source that forms an electrostatic latent image by exposing the photosensitive drum 1 to light. The developer carrying member 6 is an example of a developing member to which a developing voltage is applied, the developing member forming a toner image by developing the electrostatic latent image using the antibacterial toner 4. The power-supply circuit 705 is an example of a power supply that generates the charging voltage and the developing voltage. The CPU 700 functions as a controller that controls the power supply and the exposure light source. The CPU 700 may control the charging voltage and the developing voltage such that the antibacterial region 200 is generated in the form of fogging. In doing so, the laser scanner 3 is not turned on. Furthermore, no image signal is input to the laser scanner 3. Accordingly, power consumption is reduced.
Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-065262 | Apr 2022 | JP | national |
This application is a Continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2023/003762, filed Feb. 6, 2023, which claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-065262, filed Apr. 11, 2022, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2023/003762 | Feb 2023 | WO |
| Child | 18909811 | US |
